Previous Years Diaries - 2022

Over the last 3 years of growing (2025 being our 4th year) I have kept a growing diary, starting with a 8 meter square growing bed at home in the back garden.  Then in 2023 we started our first season growing on the allotment and continued to keep a diary on paper.  In order to share my adventures with others, this year I started these allotment diaries, so I've now stopped using paper in favour of the blog.  In an effort to keep all my diaries in one place, I've transferred all my previous years entries into one page which if anything else, will help looking back easier to do.

Date	Diary Entry
January 2nd	Sown Onions (Ailsa Craig) - Windowsill indoors
January 17th	First signs of onion germination
January 20th	Red Duke of York and MAris Piper seed potatoes delivered
January 22nd	Red Duke of York seeds set out to chit
January 27th	Ailsa Craig onion about 3" (1.5 folded)
February 26th	Ordered 1400 litres multi purpose compost from buycompostonline.co.uk Sow additional Ailsa Craig onions Sow Marigolds and Cosmos
March 3rd	Sow Shallots (Zebrune), Squash (Walnut), Tomatoes (Tumbling Tiger), Sweetcorn (Rising Sun F1), Leeks (Musselburgh).  Maris Piper -  start chitting.  8 Containers bought for potatoes.
March 4th	Erected cold frames and put leeks outside.  Hoops and cloche tunnel put up ready for for parsnips.
March 12th	Red Juke of York earlier planted (5 tubs).  Ready in 14 weeks. Direct sow 3 rows White Gem parsnips and 2 rows Sabre parsnips
March 20th	1 seed tray emergency Ailsa Craig onions sown.
March 22nd	Sweetcorn (4") moved to cold frame.  18/3 degrees day/night temp.
April 5th	First signs of parsnip germination.  Lettuce Salad Bowl Red and Lobjoitis Green sown in new trug bought from Lidl
April 8th	Ordered 750 litres mushroom compost from qualitygardensupplies.co.uk due to be delivered 19th April.
April 9th	Sweetcorn, Squash, Shallots and Tomatoes moved to cold frame. Earthing up potatoes.
April 10th	Cosmos and Marigold moved to cold frame.
April 13th	Shallot seeds failed.  Growing sweetcorn in their place.
April 14th	Planted out sweetcorn from cold frame to veg patch.  13 plants total. 2 rows of 4 plants, 1 row of 3 plants and 1 row of 2 plants in a grid.
April 15th	4 rows of carrots sown.  1 row Red Cored 2, 1 row Early Nante, 2 rows Early Scarlet Horn.
April 16th	20 Ailsa Craig onions transferred to veg bed.  Emergency onions still in  cold frame.
April 19th	Mushroom compost arrived.
April 20th	5 Tubs Maris Piper potatoes sown in mix of mushroom, home and multi purpose compost.  Estimate harvest 18-20 weeks (19th week w/c 31st August).
21st April	Sown 1/3 lettuce Salad Bowl Red in trug.
23rd April	10 Emergency Ailsa Craig onions transferred to veg bed. 1 Tray Marigolds sown. 12 Giant Yellow sunflowers sown into 6 inch pots. 12 Red Sunflowers sown into 6 inch pots. Emergency leeks planted.
26th April	Pricked out and potted on green lettuce to grow on but some left in trug too.
May 2nd	Planted out Cosmos
May 4th	Tranferred 5 x Tumbling Tiger tomato plants to large pots.  6 plants spare. Planted in 2/3 mushroom 1/3 multi purpose compost.
May 5th	Planted out 1st batch leeks into bed.  2 Squash plants into bed.  Several lettuces transferred in amongst leeks and squash.
May 12th	Emergency leeks thinned and potted on.
May 14th	White Gem parsnip failed.  Pak Choi (free seeds) sown in it's place.  White Gem parsnip seed was over 2 years old. 1 Pot Corriander sown.  Cold frames packed away.
May 19th	Emergency leeks moved into bed.
31st May	Had to harvest most garlic early.  Bad rust and black fly stopped bulb development.  Rust clipped off and bulbs hanging to dry.  Some very small bulbs.  Elephant garlic unaffected so far.  Left in ground.  Monitor for black fly.
2nd June	4 Rows Beetrot sown by Elephant Garlic.  Moved come lettuce from trug to veg bed where garlic was.  Moved lettuces from between leeks to where garlic used to be.
Jun 16th	Elephant garlic harvested.  2 very good and 1 OK. 1 a bit small.
17th June	1st tub Red Duke of York potatoes harvested.  No issues and nice spuds. Cut vegitation off other tubs and will harvest later.  Mushroom compost mulch added around Sweetcorn plants.
25th June	Sown 2 rows Cherry Belle radish - ready in 4 weeks.
16th July	First signs of squash fruit appearing on the plants.
23rd July	Sweetcorn harvest part 1 - 12 cobs.  4 or 5 plants left to develop a bit longer. First tomatoes ready for picking.
24th July	Test harvest Scarlet Early Horn carrots.  Small 3 - 4" but clean. No sign of carrot fly or worm.  They are supposed to be short and stumpy.
26th July	Remaining sweetcorn picked and cooked.
28th July	Ailsa Craig onions harvested and set out to dry.
30th July	Lettuce Cervanek seeds planted in trug.
18th August	1kg batch tomato, onion and garlic chutney made. So far, picked around 3kg toms.
19th August	1kg batch tomato and garlic pizza base.
20th August	Picked around 2kg tomatoes. 1st tub Maris Piper potatoes harvested.  Some scab but OK. Picked 1 row carrots but threw some away. All wonky but no worms or carrot root fly.
2nd September	First picking of squash (2 off).  7 left on the vine.  Tomatoes - still picking. First harvest of beetroot, thinned out crop.  Braeburn apples ready for eating.
17th September	Last of tomatoes harvested.  All plants pulled up.
27th September	Last squash harvested.  Plants pulled up.
30th October	Last carrots lifted.  Last beetroot lifted. Last lettuce started to rot so dug in.